Texas Joins State Pensions Bailing On Putnam

November 10, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Joining a
growing list of state pension funds to bail out on the
beleaguered Putnam Investments is the state of Texas, which
is pulling $108.5 million that comes on top of the $14
billion in assets the company had already lost.

The Austin Business Journal quoted Texas Comptroller
Carole Keeton Rylander as saying her office has been
dissatisfied with the returns on the money formerly at the
Boston-based Putnam.

Word of the Texas move comes as the Boston Business
Journal reported that pension funds and individual
investors have yanked $14 billion in assets from Putnam
since the end of October, according to a Putnam US
Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
Putnam now has $263 billion in assets, according to
the filing, down from $277 billion in assets as of October
31.

The withdrawals represent about 5% of Putnam’s
assets. In recent days, public pension funds have rushed
to cut their ties to Putnam — or at least publicly
announce they were prepared to do so. Pennsylvania,
Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Iowa have pulled
billions out of Putnam. California, Connecticut, Florida,
Oregon and Washington may also terminate their relations
with the fund company (See
PA,
RI, VT, IA, NY Pensions Fire Putnam
).